Zachania

by Joseph Henry Gaines

  “This has the power to change everything.”

  “Look inside Ganasis Apollo left a map where the treasures are.”

  Ganasis flicked the book open and picked up the map still in wonder.

  “I had no idea Apollo knew the locations, but there are still five locations missing.”

  “I have the skull and the soil Ganasis, the rest I will find.”

  Ganasis just studied the map until something caught his eye.

  “Talon, two of the artefacts are located in Degrain.”

  “Yes the candles and the lava.” replied Talon seeing Ganasis expression turning to concern.

  “What’s wrong?” Talon added.

  “It’s not good Talon, no Zachanian can walk on Degrain soil.”

  “What!” scowled Talon?

  “The province of Degrain is cursed by evil spirits, evil spirits of the men who died fighting Zachanian’s, it is said that they will find and kill any Zachanian who ventures there.”

  “Nonsense! You believe this Ganasis.”

  “It is what it is, Talon.”

  “Ganasis I will not be thwarted in what I have to do, not by natural or unnatural beings will stop me in what I have to do.”

  “Talon your courage is unquestionable but Degrain is an evil place, the only Zachanian’s who ever went there either died or returned totally insane, it has powerful magic.”

  “Can you not match this magic?”

  “I tried and failed many centuries ago.”

  “Well sometime in the future you shall try again my friend, now for matters at hand, what of my Grandfather.”

  “Zalon is in Zafra building the ships, the last report I heard is that he is ahead of schedule.”

  “Good now where is Prince Arun I will need to speak with him.”

  “The Prince is here in Zachra he returned from the border yesterday, is there anything wrong Talon.”

  “I think it is time that a Prince becomes a King!”

  Ganasis nodded agreeing with Talon.

  “Both I and Heikan will second you on this; Zachania has to be driven by a strong pair of hands.”

  “Have you or Heikan mentioned this to the Prince.”

  “I have not but Heikan has hinted at him a few times but the Prince seems to feel that he has to earn his respect before taking the crown.”

  “So Heikan has spoken to him then.”

  “Like I said he’s mentioned it.”

  Talon then yawned from tiredness and Ganasis advised him to get some rest.

  “I will arrange a meeting for later tonight Talon, now get some sleep you look exhausted.”

  “I am fine Ganasis.”

  “Talon! Even the strongest of men need sleep, now go freshen up and I will take matters into hand.”

  Later that evening after Talon had slept and washed he joined a meeting that included Prince Arun, Ganasis, Zumal, Lords Heikan and Tanaga and a few of the Princes Generals with General Pelkan.

  Prince sat in his usual seat at the head of the table and Talon noticed he had a drawn and stressful look about him; the Prince rubbed his head and yawned before starting to speak

  “Firstly we must welcome to our table the safe return of Talon who has returned after successfully finding Apollo’s cave, Talon I welcome you, you have been missed.”

  All the men welcomed Talon who in turn enjoyed the warmth that was being shown to him then he raised his arms asking for silence.

  “Thank you my friends, it’s true I found the cave and I have returned with a spell book which Ganasis is now in possession of. We will be trying to learn its secrets and I am sure Ganasis will keep the council informed of any progress, but now what of our preparations.”

  Talon sat back down with an air of power in his presence, he was fast becoming a model of strength and power and besides his young age, his aura was overwhelming to any who knew him. This sort of adulation for Talon did not escape Prince Arun’s attention, he could see that whenever the council spoke they seemed to focus what they were saying to Talon but the Prince did not feel resentful as he himself found himself drawn by Talon’s powerful charisma. But in the back of his mind he wanted to be more authoritative.

  Lord Heikan was next to rise to his feet and address the meeting.

  “Firstly I give great thanks to the gods for your safe return Talon, now news from my own army is that they are looking formidable, they do me a great deal honour and it seems the battle at Zafra has wetted their appetites for Imperial blood and they are ready to march within one days’ notice” answered Heikan proudly.

  “Tell me Heikan what is your army’s strength?” asked Talon.

  “I have over one hundred and fifty thousand warriors, with a further fifty thousand in reserve.”

  “Great news Lord Heikan” replied Talon.

  “Heikan’s army will support me from the rear when we make our initial attack, I now have sixty legions, each legion containing two thousand men deployed at the border awaiting orders, and I have a further one hundred and fifty legions here in Zachra” added the Prince.

  “And you Lord Tanaga.” asked Talon.

  “My army is nearly ready, I would say another week where I will be in command of over one hundred and seventy thousand warriors, and I await the council’s decision as to where you wish to deploy them.”

  Talon nodded and turned to the Prince

  “What of the houses Zagar and Krazmos.”

  The Prince called for Pelkan to fetch some papers then the Prince sifted through them till he found two letters

  “This is the last correspondence we have had from Lord Krazmos, two days ago, ‘my royal Prince, the house of Krazmos will be in a position to offer one hundred thousand soldiers in ten days’ time.’”

  The Prince then picked up the other letter.

  “Lord Zargar also asks for ten to fourteen days where he will have eighty thousand soldiers ready.”

  Talon then asked the Prince about his Grandfather and the house of Zalon.

  “Lord Zalon is understandably bringing up the rear, after the recent troubles in that province but he reports that the ships are on schedule but there is some unrest by those who are still loyal to Korvak but he says he is making progress in singling them out.”

  “Has he asked for any assistance?” asked Talon showing concern.

  “No Talon but I was thinking of sending Zumal there anyway.” answered Arun.

  “Then I will go with him, we must have peace in Zachania, if there are any troublemakers there then I will deal with them.” Talon said to the Prince looking very determined.

  “Lord Zalon has not informed us that there is any trouble Talon, just a few rogue individuals.”

  “Yes Prince but one flower can spread many seeds, Korvak was well respected by his men, he brought them great wealth by peddling the Zac, their allegiance and frustrations may still be high. I will go there and see what is happening, I will leave tomorrow” added Talon with his mind made up.

  “Graval is with him.” added Heikan at Talon.

  Talon just nodded but did not say anything as his mind was set and he did not want to dwell on this subject which the Prince noticed and changed the subject by calling his General Pelkan over.

  “Are you ready General?”

  “Yes my liege! We leave at dawn.”

  “Thank you Pelkan, I will excuse you now as I’m sure you have things to do.”

  General Pelkan saluted the Prince and then saluted the council before leaving the room with three of his men, once he left the Prince addressed the meeting again.

  “Pelkan will be leading a scouting mission to Zanlia at dawn tomorrow; we need to know more of what is going on there.”

  “Will the Zanlian resistance support us Prince” asked Tanaga.

  “We must know if we have their loyalty” added Heikan.

  “Our friends in Zanlia are not soldiers Heikan, what help they give us is hard to fathom, Pelkan will find out just help they will be able to give.”
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  “I don’t trust them!” Heikan snapped back.

  “Heikan not everyone believes like you, there is more to living than just death and honour, these people have risked their lives countless times supplying us with information” snapped the Prince angrily, which had the effect of Zumal brushing his leg reminding him show composure.

  “Prince Arun! I am saying show caution when dealing with these men.”

  Zumal decided to intervene just as tempers were rising.

  “Lord Heikan, you must have faith in your Prince.”

  Lord Heikan realising he had stepped over the line quickly apologised to the Prince before turning to Talon and changing the subject.

  “Talon I have read scriptures about the book of spells but nothing of any depth could you enlighten us any further.”

  “Ganasis would you please” Talon replied turning to the wizard.

  “It is said that the spell book was written by the gods at the beginning of time which helped them form the land. Myth states that Apollo while in mortal form retrieved it from the home of the gods and brought it here, but the gods knowing of this books great power made twelve artefacts that are needed for the spells to work, these artefacts were hidden all over Kratos in secret locations so that the book would never be used again.”

  Heikan and the Prince’s initial excitement quickly subdued at what Ganasis was saying.

  “So the book is useless!” snapped Heikan.

  “Do we know where the artefacts are Ganasis” added the Prince.

  “Talon returned with two of them and we have a map showing the locations of some of them but there are still some artefacts unknown.”

  Talon then got to his feet.

  “It is my intention to find them all but all in good time.”

  “When we know more we will tell you” added Ganasis.

  Pelkan sat alone cursing the storm that was thrashing the cliffs of Zachania, Perad his second in command was standing under shelter with twenty other soldiers wondering if they would be sailing tonight or would wait to see the storm out.

  “Perad we can’t sail in this.” one of the soldiers said.

  “It’s not my call.” answered Perad before walking out into the rain to join Pelkan.

  “General the men want to know what we are doing.”

  “The seas are rough” he answered looking out across the moon lit ocean.

  “It would be foolhardy to sail now General.”

  Pelkan grimaced before replying.

  “I know that Perad but we must make haste.”

  “Sir the chances are that if we set sail we would just be swept against the cliffs.”

  Pelkan did not answer as he crouched down and carried on studying the sea

  “Tell the men we leave now.” he answered.

  “Yes sir” answered Perad before returning to the soldiers and telling them the bad news which made them feel fear at the task before them.

  Within an hour the group had swam to the hidden boat and began to set sail, the se was extremely rough and the first big wave they met crashed against the hull sending a huge gush of water over the top of the boat soaking the men, Perad pleaded with Pelkan.

  “General it is no good, this boat will break!” he shouted anxiously trying to raise his voice above the roaring sound of the sea and the storm. Pelkan snarled at him in anger.

  “Where is your courage? Tell the men to man the oars and row, turn the boat into the wind and cease your complaints, we are not turning back so if you want to survive then concentrate on the journey!”

  Perad saluted his General and then shook his head in disbelief before returning to the men and giving them the order, the boat was taking a terrible pounding as wave after wave crashed against it.

  After a couple of hours they reached the first island where Perad pleaded with Pelkan to take shelter but once again Pelkan denied them and told them to continue

  “Are you insane?” Perad screamed at him.

  “We have orders Perad, we sail tonight!” Pelkan shouted back at him then picking up an oar to help.

  when dawn arrived the men felt relief as they felt the wind ease, it has been an exhausting night but still the storm was raging and Perad was certain that they had drifted off course, he was an able seaman but he was in strange waters and with thick cloud above he was struggling to find his bearings.

  “I think the sun is over there.” he shouted to Pelkan.

  “Are you sure?”

  “It’s my best guess General.”

  “Do the best you can Perad.”

  Perad took the helm and steered the boat using all his seamanship and experience and after a few hours he saw something on the horizon.

  “General I see something.”

  “What is it, is it land.”

  “No it looks like a ship.”

  “A SHIP!” Pelkan replied.

  “Yes a ship” answered Perad wincing and shielding his eyes from the sun which had now come out from the clouds.

  Then one of the men shouted that they could see land, Pelkan and Perad rushed to the port side of the boat and looked at where the soldier had pointed.

  “Man the oars!” Pelkan shouted.

  Quickly the men began rowing towards the land, and then Perad noticed two more boats coming into view which looked like they were heading towards them.

  “Who are they.” Pelkan yelled.

  “Damn! I think their Imperial.” replied Perad.

  “ROW! ROW! Row like your life’s depended on it!” Pelkan shouted to his men.

  “It’s the Empire!” Perad said as he sat down next to Pelkan and picked up an oar.

  The men frantically rowed but they were no match for the Imperial battle cruiser which was gaining on them very fast.

  “Perad, steer us into its path, we will have to jump.”

  “WHAT!”

  “Crash the boat, we will have to swim to land” Pelkan yelled before turning to the men.

  “Prepare to jump!” he shouted before turning to see bowmen readying there arrows on the Imperial ship. The men grabbed their swords and shields and readied themselves to jump and whoosh a volley of arrows flew down on top of them.

  “TAKE COVER!” Pelkan shouted only for five of his men not to move fast enough and get run through with arrows.

  “JUMP!” Pelkan shouted jumping into the sea.

  As the men swam for their lives the battle ship rammed the boat they had been in and smashed it to pieces, but thankfully the water was becoming shallow so the battle ship had to stop. Pelkan and his men were split into three groups as they swam to the shore, he could hear the arrows flying over his head, Pelkan, Perad, and two others were first to reach the shore. Quickly they rose to their feet and ran towards the shelter of some sand dunes nearby, when they reached the dunes they turned to see that there companions were still just pulling themselves from the water.

  “Pelkan look!” Perad shouted as he saw Imperial soldiers running towards his men.

  “Damn it!” snapped Pelkan.

  “General there are too many, we can’t help them.”

  Pelkan’s heart sank as before his eyes he saw his men beaten and taken prisoner by at least a hundred Imperial soldiers, Perad looked at him and sensed that he was going to try and help them.

  “General! General! It’s no good we must leave.”

  Pelkan paused as he looked painfully at Perad before taking one last look at his men all now taken prisoner before he jumped up and with Perad and his other two soldiers and ran into the interior of the sand dunes.

  The men ran for a couple of hours until they collapsed in exhaustion.

  “Do you think were safe?” Perad gasped looking around.

  “I think so.” panted Pelkan.

  “What do we do now General?”

  “We carry on with our mission; we go to Zanlia and find Falkan.”

  “What of the men?” Perad asked Pelkan who was looking tired with a stressed look on his face.

 
; “I don’t know Perad, they will be tortured.” he answered rising to his feet.

  “Come we have no time to waste.” he added before they pulled themselves up and feeling tired and dejected they headed in the direction of Zanlia.

  Pelkan’s captured men were tied and gagged and taken back to the Imperial castle in Zanlia for further interrogation and punishment, they were thrown in the castles notorious Grespen dungeons a place where few people came out.

  The men were all thrown in the cell together still bound and blindfolded, after a while one of the soldiers managed to free an arm and pull away his blindfold and gag.

  “No one must say a thing, we are all Zanlian smugglers, do you understand.” he whispered sternly.

  The men all nodded and groaned through their gags agreeing with them.

  The man who spoke thought to himself for a moment before speaking again.

  “Soldiers! It does not look good for us but our families and home lands safety is depending on us, if I am to die today then I will not betray my two brothers who are with the armies at the border, we must not let the Empire know who we are, we must all take an oath of silence to Apollo.”

  The soldier then closed his eyes and swore his oath.

  “I swear that I will meet death with my honour intact, I swear on my eternal soul that I will remain silent.”

  The rest of the men in turn closed their eyes and repeated the vow silently in their minds.

  They sat in the dark damp cell for a couple of hours until the door was slammed open and three Imperial soldiers picked up the man nearest to the door and pulled him out the room, the atmosphere was sinister as the men sat blindfolded. As the door opened they heard a struggle and then the door slammed again without a word being spoken. But the men all knew and feared what was now happening to their companion.

  He was dragged to another nearby room where he was shackled to the wall and then the beating began, two soldiers repeatedly punched him in the body and face his nose broke and blood poured from his face, he found himself thinking that he was being beaten to death until the door opened and an Imperial General entered.

  The General raised his hand for the soldiers to stop the punishment.

  “I see you have met my men.” the General said pulling down the man’s blindfold.